By Ali Hassan

Bay of Bengal which has been least focused in the previous years, is now becoming the point of concern in international relations (IR). Countries around the BoB, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar (at least before the 2021 coup) are experiencing high growth rates. Much of that economic growth is currently being driven by internal reforms and remains fragile. But the region’s long-term economic prospects will likely be driven by the ability of countries such as Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka to take advantage of the funds given on the interest base by their huge neighbors, China and India, and most critically by the growing interest of extra regional powers such as the United States. The Bay is also assuming a new strategic importance. It is located close to the geographic center of the Indo-Pacific region (at the intersection of the expanding zones of strategic interest of China and India). The BoB (like its Pacific “twin,” the South China Sea) is also a key transit zone between the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the main route for trade in energy to East Asia. The region’s strategic centrality, just as much as its promising economic prospects, drives the unprecedented jostle for influence by the major powers, including China, India, Japan, the United States, and even Russia.                                                   

BoB will likely assume increasing geostrategic importance in the Indo-Pacific vision in the coming decades. In some ways, it is also the epicenter of the Indo-Pacific concept—the place where the strategic interests of the major powers of East and South Asia intersect. The importance of the BoB as a new frontier for development and confrontation and its relevance to key regional and extra regional players will continue to grow as geopolitical competition intensifies. According to an political scientist Akihiko Tanaka, the former head of Japan’s International Cooperation Agency, The BoB not only physically connects the Pacific and Indian Oceans but has the potential to act as an economic hub for the East Asian and Indian Ocean economic systems’ interaction.

Despite its seemingly bright economic prospects and objectives, the region still suffers from an array of politico-security issues, many of which are transnational in nature. These include political instability, separatist insurgencies, communal and religious conflicts with cross-border implications and maritime security challenges such as piracy, gun-running and human trafficking. The region also suffers from considerable environmental security problems—a possible inundation of large parts of the littoral states due to rising sea levels that could lead to the displacement of millions. The BoB is not only a theater for a great power game; the livelihood and economic vitality of the countries surrounding it are highly dependent on this body of water. Domestic dynamics in each of these states, interstate conflict, nontraditional security threats, climate change, and ecology are also critical factors shaping the Bay with significant consequences for the broader Indo-Pacific. The article first depicts the origin of Indo-Pacific concept and the geostrategic significance of the BoB in relation to the concept. In the subsequent section, it identifies the key drivers that are likely to foster the BoB’s significance and its relevance for Indo-Pacific.

However, the BoB was long ignored by great powers, as it was characterized by an image of poverty, natural disasters, and political instability. Even now, few perceive the BoB as constituting a region for significant geopolitical calculations. In contrast to previous centuries, since the end of World War II, geographers, academics, and diplomats preferred to divide the Bay of Bengal into two distinct halves, drawing a sharp line between what came to be called “Southeast Asia” and “South Asia.” as the concept of the Indo-Pacific continues to surge and become operationalized. The area is likely to gain much greater prominence in coming years and may even be poised to become a new epicenter of economic development in Asia.

The Bay of Bengal which is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean is of great political, economic, and cultural importance to its coastal countries of Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia With maritime trade, fishing, and issues, including illicit trade, piracy, armed robbery, and illegal fishing.

Incidents of human trafficking after the influx of the Rohingya refugees’ influx to Bangladesh from Myanmar in 2017, piracy, and attacking seamen at the cargo and fishing trawlers and engine boats on the seaway, are increasing day by day. Crews, boatmen, fishermen, and owners of cargo trawlers and engine boats are not safe in the Bay of Bengal as the pirates attack them in the offshore areas on the sea. Particularly, the fishermen cannot go to the sea due to rampant incidents of attacks of pirates on the fishermen.  Fishermen of Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar are now suffering a lot. In this situation, the role and involvement of law enforcement agencies are needed here to combat this maritime security threat.

The strategic involvement of extra regional actors which is now seemed as the trend in IR now, will put regional actors including Bangladesh in serious crises and threats in coming future if it is not dealt wisely by Bangladesh and its neighboring states with the passage of time. The common interest of extra regional entities is also increasing tremendously day by day which can pose serious maritime security challenges for Bangladesh and other regional entities connecting Bay of Bengal.